2016 Doncaster Mile Field, Barriers & Odds

Doncaster Mile News

Champion mare Winx made it nine wins on the trot with another outstanding performance in the 2016 Doncaster Mile at Royal Randwick this afternoon. There were a number of big punters ready to take on Winx in the lead-up to the Doncaster Mile and they looked as though they had…

The 2016 Doncaster Mile is the 150th running of the event, and will likely be accompanied by the appropriate fanfare.

The Doncaster Mile was originally run on Easter Monday before being transferred to the third Saturday of April, but the creation of The Championships have led to a number of changes to the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival calendar, and it is now run on the first Saturday of April.

The Doncaster Mile is now worth an incredible $3 million in prize money and is one of four Group 1 races that will be held on the opening day of The Championships; with the Australian Derby (2400m), T.J. Smith Stakes (1200m) and Sires Produce Stakes (1200m) also scheduled on what is sure to be a exciting card.

And the Melbourne Cup is coming up in just a few months on the 3rd of November, 2016.

Doncaster Mile Results

2016 Doncaster Mile Results

1st – Winx

2nd – Happy Clapper

3rd – Azkadellia

The Championships Day 1

The first day of the prestigious The Championships features an action-packed race card of 9 group races. Besides the Doncaster Mile, these are:

Doncaster Mile Lead-Up Races

As the Doncaster Mile is held towards the tail end of the Sydney autumn carnival there is a huge range of earlier races that horses may have come via on their way towards the illustrious handicap event all covered by various horse racing news sites.

Good lead-up races that give an indication of a horse’s chance in the Doncaster Mile include the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens fortnight earlier, the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in late March as well as the the Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) for fillies and mares.

The George Ryder Stakes is generally considered the key lead-up race to the Doncaster Mile and in recent times Racing To Win (2006), Haradasun (2007) and Vision And Power (2009) have all been able to complete George Ryder Stakes /Doncaster Mile double, while Pierro was only narrowly denied a win in both events in 2013 by Sacred Falls.

Doncaster Mile History

The Doncaster Mile was first run way back in 1865 and was taken out by Dundee. The race quickly became one of the feature events in New South Wales Racing, but it wasn’t until 1980 that the race was upgraded to the Group 1 status that it maintains today.

A number of champion Australian horses have won the Doncaster Mile and the honour roll for the time-honoured race includes Chatham (1934), Cuddle (1936), Mildura (1940 and 1941), Slogan II (1956 and 1957), Tudor Hill (1959 and 1960), Tobin Bronze (1967), Gunsynd (1972), Emancipation (1983), Super Impose (1990 and 1991), Pharaoh (1954 and 1955), Sunline (1999 and 2002), Grand Armee (2003) and More Joyous (2012).

Doncaster Mile Field

The Doncaster Mile field always features the best middle distance horses from right around Australia and the race is generally run with a capacity field of 20 runners. With the increased prizemoney of offer in the Group 1 event the Doncaster Mile is now starting to garner interest from trainers in Europe and Asia; with the 2014 Doncaster Mile field including Japanese mare Hana’s Goal.

Doncaster Mile Betting

Being a handicap event, Doncaster Mile betting is notoriously difficult – with a number of punters of the belief that, along with the Melbourne Cup, it is one of the most difficult betting races on the Australian racing calendar. In recent years, Doncaster Mile winners have come from a variety of different form lines; with three-year-olds, mares, entires, geldings and fillies all having their share of success in the race.